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Title: Study of thin film poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells presenting high acceptor concentrations achieved by in-situ arsenic doping

Abstract

Doping of CdTe using Group-V elements (As, P, and Sb) has gained interest in pursuit of increasing the cell voltage of CdTe thin film solar devices. Studies on bulk CdTe crystals have shown that much higher acceptor concentration than the traditional copper treatment is possible with As, P or Sb, enabled by high process temperature and/or rapid thermal quenching under Cd overpressure. We report a comprehensive study on in-situ As doping of poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells by MOCVD, whereby high acceptor densities, approaching 3 x 1016 cm-3 were achieved at low growth temperature of 390 degrees C. No As segregation could be detected at grain boundaries, even for 1019 As cm-3. A shallow acceptor level (+0.1 eV) due to AsTe substitutional doping and deep-level defects were observed at elevated As concentrations. Devices with variable As doping were analysed. Narrowing of the depletion layer, enhancement of bulk recombination, and reduction in device current and red response, albeit a small near infrared gain due to optical gap reduction, were observed at high concentrations. Device modelling indicated that the properties of the n-type window layer and associated interfacial recombination velocity are highly critical when the absorber doping is relatively high, demonstrating a routemore » for obtaining high cell voltage.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [2];  [7];  [4];  [4];  [1];  [1]
  1. Swansea University (United Kingdom)
  2. Middle East Technical University, Ankara (Turkey)
  3. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
  4. Northumbria University (United Kingdom)
  5. University of Liverpool (United Kingdom)
  6. Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca (Saudi Arabia)
  7. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
OSTI Identifier:
1501659
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-73483
Journal ID: ISSN 0927-0248
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 194; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0927-0248
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; CdTe; group-V; doping; thin film; photovoltaics; MOCVD

Citation Formats

Kartopu, G., Oklobia, O., Turkay, D., Diercks, D. R., Gorman, B. P., Barrioz, V., Campbell, S., Major, J. D., Al Turkestani, M. K., Yerci, S., Barnes, Teresa M., Beattie, N. S., Zoppi, G., Jones, S., and Irvine, S. J. C. Study of thin film poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells presenting high acceptor concentrations achieved by in-situ arsenic doping. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2019.02.025.
Kartopu, G., Oklobia, O., Turkay, D., Diercks, D. R., Gorman, B. P., Barrioz, V., Campbell, S., Major, J. D., Al Turkestani, M. K., Yerci, S., Barnes, Teresa M., Beattie, N. S., Zoppi, G., Jones, S., & Irvine, S. J. C. Study of thin film poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells presenting high acceptor concentrations achieved by in-situ arsenic doping. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2019.02.025
Kartopu, G., Oklobia, O., Turkay, D., Diercks, D. R., Gorman, B. P., Barrioz, V., Campbell, S., Major, J. D., Al Turkestani, M. K., Yerci, S., Barnes, Teresa M., Beattie, N. S., Zoppi, G., Jones, S., and Irvine, S. J. C. 2019. "Study of thin film poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells presenting high acceptor concentrations achieved by in-situ arsenic doping". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2019.02.025. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1501659.
@article{osti_1501659,
title = {Study of thin film poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells presenting high acceptor concentrations achieved by in-situ arsenic doping},
author = {Kartopu, G. and Oklobia, O. and Turkay, D. and Diercks, D. R. and Gorman, B. P. and Barrioz, V. and Campbell, S. and Major, J. D. and Al Turkestani, M. K. and Yerci, S. and Barnes, Teresa M. and Beattie, N. S. and Zoppi, G. and Jones, S. and Irvine, S. J. C.},
abstractNote = {Doping of CdTe using Group-V elements (As, P, and Sb) has gained interest in pursuit of increasing the cell voltage of CdTe thin film solar devices. Studies on bulk CdTe crystals have shown that much higher acceptor concentration than the traditional copper treatment is possible with As, P or Sb, enabled by high process temperature and/or rapid thermal quenching under Cd overpressure. We report a comprehensive study on in-situ As doping of poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells by MOCVD, whereby high acceptor densities, approaching 3 x 1016 cm-3 were achieved at low growth temperature of 390 degrees C. No As segregation could be detected at grain boundaries, even for 1019 As cm-3. A shallow acceptor level (+0.1 eV) due to AsTe substitutional doping and deep-level defects were observed at elevated As concentrations. Devices with variable As doping were analysed. Narrowing of the depletion layer, enhancement of bulk recombination, and reduction in device current and red response, albeit a small near infrared gain due to optical gap reduction, were observed at high concentrations. Device modelling indicated that the properties of the n-type window layer and associated interfacial recombination velocity are highly critical when the absorber doping is relatively high, demonstrating a route for obtaining high cell voltage.},
doi = {10.1016/j.solmat.2019.02.025},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1501659}, journal = {Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells},
issn = {0927-0248},
number = C,
volume = 194,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Feb 26 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Tue Feb 26 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}

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Cited by: 47 works
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1. Fig. 1. : A needle-shaped APT px CdTe specimen, exhibiting two grains and a GB, as imaged by TEM (a). The APT reconstruction (b) shows a 0.9 at% Cl surface (yellow) and a 97.6 at% Cd+Te surface (black), which highlights the GB location, and the region that was used formore » the 1-D atomic concentration profiles of elements Cd, Te, Cl, and As (c) in the direction of the blue arrow in (b), derived from APT. No As accumulation, but Cl segregation can be seen around the GB. The dashed line is the mean value of As present in the region of interest. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).« less

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